Brian James Griffiths (born 13 June 1949 in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

) is a former English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er who played for

. He was a medium pace

seam bowler Seam bowling is a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation when the ball bounces. Practitioners are known as ''seam bowlers'' or seamers. Seam bowling is generally classed ...

, who took over 400 first-class wickets spanning a twelve-year period between 1974 and 1986. Griffiths later played for

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

and continued playing league cricket into his fifties. He is however best remembered not for his bowling but for his inept batting, managing a career average of just over 3 runs per innings, which is the second-lowest by any regular first-class cricketer ahead of Francis McHugh of Yorkshire and Gloucestershire. Griffiths was out 51 times in his career without scoring and early in his career played ten consecutive innings without scoring a run, breaking the long-time record of

Tom Goddard Thomas William John Goddard (1 October 1900 – 22 May 1966) was an English cricketer and the fifth-highest wicket taker in first-class cricket. Biography Born 1 October 1900 in Gloucester, Goddard joined Gloucestershire in 1922 as a fast bow ...

, Seymour Clark and Brian Boshier. Griffiths’ batting was considered so inferior that his local club nicknamed him "the world’s worst batsman" and "the wally of the willow". Ironically however, perhaps Griffiths’ most celebrated achievement in his cricketing career came with the bat; playing

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

in the 1981

Natwest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

semi-final on Northamptonshire's home ground, Griffiths came in at number 11 with fellow tail-ender

Tim Lamb Timothy Michael Lamb (born 24 March 1953) is an English sports administrator and former cricketer who played for a decade in County cricket for Middlesex and Northamptonshire as a bowler. After retiring from playing, he became an administrator, s ...

still needing 13 runs to win, with one of the world’s most fearsome fast bowlers of the period,

Michael Holding Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Dea ...

, running in at one end. Somehow, both Griffiths and Lamb stood firm and held on, managing to accumulate the runs required, with Griffiths getting off the mark after twenty-nine balls and hitting the winning run and being carried off shoulder high by the partisan crowd. Three years later, Griffiths made eleven runs against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

to level the scores and was run out attempting a bye off the last ball of the day, resulting in the first tie ever at Wantage Road.Woodcock, John (editor); ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 122nd Year (1985), pp. 498-499

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, Jim 1949 births Living people English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Sportspeople from Wellingborough Lincolnshire cricketers Cricketers from Northamptonshire